Wednesday, March 13, 2013

with our spring break in full swing over here, i kind of have forgotten how much longer "my things" took to get done when you are in the thick of things with the kids home and under your feet at every turn. and it's not like i can send them outside to run around as it's been pretty cold, and it's been raining/snowing off and on for the last week.
but today TODAY WE GOT A FULL DAY OF SUN!
i got a little bit of time while the kids were all doing their own things, and honestly i think we were all in such a good mood over the sun being out and about...we just sort of had one of those everyone harmonizing and loving each others company kind of day. i mean seriously we looked like one of the awesome episodes of the brady bunch.
oh don't worry the stepford family syndrome will diminish as we get used to having nice weather and then we will go back to being your average ordinary family with kids yelling "he's chewing his cereal SO LOUD MAKE IT STOP!!!!" and "DONT MAKE ME TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR MISSING THE TOILET IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BY CLEANING IT!!" kind of stuff. you know. every day awesome sauce of being a mom. which i love cause really, i'm going to miss it when i don't have moments where i sit down and just stare at all of them in the same room in their own chaos. i've already experienced it this year with all of them being in school. but i digress. what was i here for before i make dinner and then run off to scouts?? oh yeah.

making my own little spring inside while the outside was still wintery.
okay so last time i showed you hand embroidery i showed you how to do the french knot. this time i'm going to show you my other favorite stitch: the lazy daisy.

what you'll need:
-hoop (i have found my wood ones throughout the years at thrift stores)
-embroidery floss (mine is from sublime stitching)
-embroidery needle
-small piece of batting large enough to be inside your embroidery hoop
-small piece background fabric (mine is linen) same size as your batting piece
-erasable marking pen

- first you are going to place your batting and fabric together with the batting on the bottom.
-place in the hoop so that it is super nice and tight. secure your hoop by turning the knob
-then you are going to turn your hoop around with the back facing you and you are going to cut off the excess batting and fabric.

-with your marking pen make small circles. this will be your guide for the middle section.
-cut a piece of floss and just like we did in the french knot section separate two of the 6 threads in your floss.

-make your first stitch by coming up from behind the fabric and batting. come through on the line of one of the small circles you drew.

-go back down into the fabric RIGHT NEXT almost right on top of where you came through the first stitch.
-use your thumb to keep the start of the thread in place.

-gently pull through most of your thread, leaving a loop on top.

-bring the needle back up through the loop through the fabric and batting.

-gently, GENTLY pull so your loop becomes flush with the fabric.

-push the needle through down on the outside of the loop right next to where your inside the loop stitch was.

-start all over again right next to the base of your first looped stitch.

- something to keep in mind is how big do you want your loops to be. thats where you are going to place your inside the loop stitch.
-practice

- i used the variegated thread for the multiple colored flowers.
-

- and i used my french knot to make a few fun little dots with the variegated blue thread on the bottom embroidery.
the daughter has already taken them to her room. i guess they will be going somewhere up in her room :) okay off to make dinner and then scouts. phew!

Best little tutorial to bring in Spring. I am going to take the supplies with me on a trip to see my sweet daughter (all grown up and yes I miss the days she was underfoot and causing headaches). Maybe I will teach her to stitch a little Spring! Lovely. :)

I just did a tutorial using the pilot frixion pen too. I love the pen it is so easy anf fun to use. I love your blog it has been inspiring me for years. Thanks for all the fun. I'd be honored if you would checkout my tutorial... http://phatquartersblog.blogspot.com

These flowers are adorable! Wouldn't it be fun to add beads, hot fix crystals, or buttons in the centers of the flowers, or to combine the hand embroidered daisies with machine embroidery or applique?

Since you seem to know a lot more about hand embroidery than I do -- have you done any needle turn applique? I am dying to start a BOM hand applique project, but I'm nervous because I haven't done any hand applique at all except for the stems I appliqued onto some maple leaf blocks a couple of years ago. Do you know if you're supposed to use one of these wooden embroidery hoops when you're doing hand applique, or are you supposed to just sew the little applique pieces onto limp fabric in your hand? I am especially nervous about the big appliqued center medallion in the project I'm eyeing. I know I could do this by machine, but I really like the look and dimension of needle turn hand applique and learning how to do it is on my "bucket list." Any tips, suggestions, or resources you could recommend would be greatly appreciated!